Berry, Doris and The Trelf

Here's a situation. Berry Benenko is standing between Doris the Drink and The Garzuthian Trelf and he's not terribly keen on either of them. Doris the Drink is known to possess a vast store of smelly things and to use them freely when it suits her purposes, to the extreme discomfort of both passers-by and sitters-around, be they as innocent and sweet as anything. The Garzuthian Trelf sharpens little pins and threatens people with them, and even if he spares you a severe pricking, he makes a terrible noise with his threats, so that some people fear the threats as much as the sharpened pins since the sound of the threats is every bit as excruciating as a severe pricking.

In any event, Berry Benenko doesn't like Doris and he doesn't like The Trelf, and he doesn't like either of them despite this further detail: Doris the Drink and The Garzuthian Trelf are themselves enemies to one another. But it's a detail that has never restrained Berry from expressing his critical views about the rotten misconduct of both of them. It would never occur to Berry that he should not say anything bad about D the D because this might play into the hands of Garzuthian ill-will - not that The Trelf actually has hands, but I'll let that pass. And, equally, Berry expresses himself in quite openly critical terms about The Trelf even if doing so will make Doris happy, as generally it will.

The secret of Berry's independence of mind is that he has learned the art of distinction - he knows how to criticize the misuse of smelly things without condoning any pricking with sharpened pins or even the threat thereof, and he knows how to take his distance from the threat and use of pins without cuddling up in any way to Doris the Drink or her odious way with smelly things.

Not so clever, however, The Columbia Coalition Against the War. They decline to participate in a protest rally against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or to 'demonize' the poor chap, fearing that to do so will assist the partisans of a military attack on Iran. It's something you'll see even from more intelligent members of the 'anti-war' left. The message in effect is: moderate or silence your criticisms of some reactionary theocrat and/or murderous thug, for otherwise you give aid and comfort to the warmongers of the right. Should you enquire of such experts in the intricacy of political positioning whether they ought, then, to moderate their criticisms of Bush, Cheney and co, so as not to make life more comfortable for the Ahmadinejads and Hezbollahs of this world, you would find them reeling in shock at so flagrant a misunderstanding of the nature of their democratic obligations.

These obligations rather lean one way, like the Tower of Pisa.